18;',;!.] ARRIVE AT RIO XF.DRO. 59 



CHAPTER IV. 



Rio Negro Estancias attacked by tlie Indians Salt Lakes Flamingoes 

 R. Negro to R. Colorado Sacred Tree Patagoniau Hare Indian 

 Families General Rosas Proceed to Bahia Blanca Sand Dunes 

 Negro Lieutenant Bahia Blanca Saline Incrustations Punta Alia 

 Zorillo. 



RIO NEGEO TO BAHIA BLANCA. 



July 21th, 1833. The Beagle sailed from Maldonado, and on 

 August the 3rd she arrived off the mouth of the Rio Negro. This 

 is the principal river on the whole line of coast between the Strait 

 of Magellan and the Plata. It enters the sea about three hundred 

 miles south of the estuary of the Plata. About fifty years ago, 

 under the old Spanish government, a small colony was established 

 here ; and it is still the most southern position (lat. 41) on this 

 eastern coast of America inhabited by civilized man. 



The country near the mouth of the river is wretched in the 

 extreme: on the south side a long line of perpendicular cliffs 

 commences, which exposes a section of the geological nature of the 

 country. The strata are of sandstone, and one layer was remark- 

 able from being composed of a firmly-cemented conglomerate of 

 pumice pebbles, which must have travelled more than four hundred 

 miles, from the Andes. The surface is everywhere covered up by 

 a thick bed of gravel, which extends far and wide over the open 

 plain. Water is extremely scarce, and, where found, is almost 

 invariably brackish. The vegetation is scanty; and although 

 there are bushes of many kinds, all are armed with formidable 

 thorns, which seem to warn the stranger not to enter on these 

 inhospitable regions. 



The settlement is situated eighteen miles up the river. The 

 road follows the foot of the sloping cliff, which forms the northern 

 boundary of the great valley, in which the Rio Negro flows. On 



